Bill Gates first read his favorite business book after Warren Buffet lent him his copy.

In a column for The Wall Street Journal, Gates writes that he has had Buffet's copy of "Business Adventures," by John Brooks since he first recieved it in 1991.

The book — a collection of 12 New Yorker articles by Brooks from the 60s — has been out-of-print since 1971, but Gates says its lessons are as applicable now as ever. He also praises Brooks for his fun, interesting writing style.

"'Business Adventures' is as much about the strengths and weaknesses of leaders in challenging circumstances as it is about the particulars of one business or another," Gates writes. "In that sense, it is still relevant not despite its age but because of it. John Brooks's work is really about human nature, which is why it has stood the test of time."

In one of the stories in the book, "The Impacted Philosophers," Brooks uses a case of price-fixing at General Electric to explore larger issues of miscommunication.